December 1, 2025 • 48 mins
Former NFL scout John Middlekauff is reacting LIVE immediately following the Week 13 Sunday Night Football matchup between Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos vs. Marcus Mariota and the Washington Commanders. John kicks off by reacting to Bo Nix's performance in an OT win against the Commanders on SNF. Next, John reacts to the San Francisco 49ers win in Week 13 vs. Shedeur Sanders and the Cleveland Browns and explains why he believes the Browns are a joke. John then discusses why the NFC West is getting weird after the Los Angeles Rams' loss to the Carolina Panthers. Next, John defends Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and states that the team is poorly built and not built for success. John then reacts to Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin leaving for LSU and what implications that may have for Ole Miss and college football landscape moving forward. John also reacts to former Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell accepting a position at the University of Florida to become their college general manager. John wraps up with his Hard Rock Bet Monday Night Football pick: New York Giants (+7) at New England Patriots
04:40 - Broncos-Commanders
17:37 - 49ers-Browns
23:18 - GameTime
24:20 - Bills-Steelers
33:34 - Lane Kiffin to LSU
43:08 - Florida GM
47:20 - HRB MNF Picks
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
Hopefully everyone is doing well, enjoying life, doing great. Obviously
(00:24):
we're brought to you by my friends at Zone Pouches
and uh we just is pretty late somehow. The Denver
Broncos pulled that off. Marcus Mariota, as Collinsworth was saying,
just would not die. But the Broncos are now ten
and two, tied for the best record in the NFL,
have a commanding lead in the AFC West, and look
(00:48):
poised to compete for the number one seat, even though
their quarterback and offense can be very very hit or miss.
Their defense was a little off as well tonight. But
a lot of other stuff going on the NFC West
wide open, Mike Tomlin and the Steelers and shambles and
even I mean they were the ones saying it not
not me and Lane Kiffin is an LSU Tiger. So
(01:10):
we'll dive into it all. Busy week, we had a
lot of content. We we did a podcast after the
Thanksgiving games, we did a podcast after the Black Friday game,
and now we're rocking and rolling here on Sunday night,
and we'll be back again Monday night. So Hopefully everyone
had a good day, good weekend, enjoyed friends and family,
(01:30):
and now it's time to you know, get get get
back to get back to real life. Get back to reality,
I guess. Obviously, subscribe to the podcast if you listen
on Collin's feet, appreciate everyone. Subscribe to the YouTube channel.
You never miss a thing. We go live after all
these uh these primetime games and uh and yeah, that
that'll be the game plan. But before we dive into
(01:52):
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for twenty percent off at checkout. It's been a long weekend,
but let's just start with the Denver Broncos, who I
don't even I have a philosophy. When, as you know,
(02:40):
you get late November, early December, I think we will
see this tomorrow on Monday Night football. When you take
a team that's ten and one or eleven and two,
and you're playing a team that's a three or four
win team that is headed toward potentially drafting in the
top five or six. Right, these are human beings. So
(03:00):
when you look at your opponent, you just don't take
them as seriously. And one thing, if you watch a
lot of NFL football on Sunday, don't blame you if
you did not. Unlike the guys that play on Thursday,
they don't eat their Thanksgiving meal till after the game.
I do think there's like the trip to Fan kind
of lack of focus. I thought it was pretty spotty
(03:24):
play throughout the league today and it kind of carried
into the night game where it just feels a little nah,
something's missing, especially from Denver, who still has a lot
to play for. I mean, getting a home field, the
number one seed you know in Denver is a huge,
huge swing moment for teams going to Mile High. Right,
(03:46):
and you're watching tonight you go, is there a team
with a bigger variance in the NFL that's a good
team than the Denver Broncos. I mean, you can watch
them on individual series when you're like they're deep, it's incredible.
Hufunga was just a plug in play, looks like an
all Pro. Their pass rush is awesome. Obviously he stands
(04:08):
back in the mix. He's one of the best defensive
backs in the league. But then they got Riley Moss,
who Marcus mary Ota made him look like he should
be on a practice squad. I mean, Riley Moss's It
is very, very difficult in this modern free agency era
to have a perfect defense or a perfect defense. You're
(04:32):
typically gonna have a liability somewhere right, a guy that
you would like to replace. But it's just it's hard.
You're not gonna have all eleven high end starters. So yeah,
we got eleven Pro Bowlers, Like this isn't the mid
nineties and it's the Cowboys are the forty nine ers.
There's the free agency era. You're just gonna have some
individuals who were on the field with some limitations, and
(04:55):
clearly when it comes to Riley Moss, like if you're
gonna do anything. That's who you're gonna throw after. And
they just went after him relentlessly tonight, and you know,
he's just targeted constantly throughout this entire season. A couple
of weeks ago, I remember watching the game. I don't
know if it's still the case. Led the league in
pass interferences tonight with the game on the line. Deebo Samuel,
(05:18):
who isn't exactly Jerry Rice or Marvin Harrison, not junior
but senior when it comes to route running and when
the ball is not in his hands, I wouldn't consider
Debo to play fast, goes right by him. I mean
almost almost scored, ended up leading to what would have
been the game tying touchdown in overtime, but obviously they
(05:42):
went for two instead of kicking the field goal and
Mariota didn't get it. Now, I do believe that Mariota
tonight looked really good through for basically three hundred yards.
I mean, you watch games like tonight like Mariota is
a high end backup and the athletic ability to keep
(06:02):
plays alive with his legs a little inaccurate at times,
but has a pretty explosive arm. Just a good player.
Really high level guy. People love him and was playing
really well, like was giving Denver all that they could handle.
But I go back to these are human beings. And
when you go into a game against a team that
(06:23):
is three and eight, whose star quarterback is watching the
game from a box, whose team is just not played
very well, you don't take him as seriously. And that's
what I just wonder Denver coming into this game. Now
there's an entire other element where bo Nix is a
giant wild card. Like there were series like at the
(06:43):
end of the first half, what was the score they had?
Just Washington had scored a touchdown to made it seven
to six, and Denver got the ball back with a
little over two minutes to go, and you went, you
know what, you want to get some points at least
you have a lead going in a halftime. Maybe it's
nine to six. In a perfect world, you get a
(07:05):
touchdown and you go up, you know, thirteen to seven,
and bo Knicks gets the ball leads them right down
the field on touchdown drive. You're like, well, that's the
good bow Knicks. And then in the second half there's
a play where he throws it right to Bobby Wagner,
who Bobby Wagner didn't even move. He basically took a
step back from where he was lined up pre snap,
(07:27):
and bo immediately grabs his helmet like this. For those
of you listening, he just puts his helmet or puts
his hands on his helmet. Obviously, many of you are
probably watching the game and it's like that can't happen.
And you could convince me that Denver could win the
AFC pretty easily if they get number one seed, win
both games and be the representation in the super Bowl.
(07:49):
I have a ticket on them to go to the
super Bowl. You could also convince me they could lose
in the first round, right If New England gets the
number one seed, they're the two seed depending on who
they play as a seventh seed. It would not shock
me at all if bo Nick just has a game
where throws a couple of picks, their offense doesn't do much,
and they just lose a game like fifteen to thirteen,
(08:10):
that would one hundred percent be on the table. That's
why I think that there is not a team with
the high end and the low end that is going
to be in the playoffs like the Denver Broncos, and
it kind of goes to bow Knicks, and I also
think sometimes Sean Payton plays a role in this. We'll
talk about the Panther game a little bit later, but
(08:31):
when we discussed that game when they played the forty
nine ers, it was like, why didn't you run the
ball more? How did you only have thirteen carries in
a game where your quarterback was just a little hit
or miss. And tonight like RJ. Harvey had thirteen carries,
you got, well, John, he only had thirty five yards
averaging you know, under three yards of carry. Well, that's
part of being an offensive coach. Just slow down the
(08:54):
game a little bit and eventually your guy's gonna break one.
Maybe not for fifty yards, but if it's twenty yards
or thirty yards or even fifteen yards. There's a level
of you know, controlling the clock and establishing a physicality
on offense and also taking some of the pressure off
your quarterback. Because bo Knicks gets in these streaks where
(09:15):
he's like running around, skipping balls at guy's feet and
you're like, this is what is going on? And I
there probably hasn't been a more frustrating player throughout this
season on a good team than bo Knicks for the Broncos.
It's like you watch individual series, you go, god, it's
really impressive. Then you watch into individual series and you go,
(09:37):
that's terrible. You could leave this game and make the
argument that Mariota played him tonight. You know, I'm not
even just factoring in numbers. Mariota was a little less accurate.
They basically threw similar yardage. Mariota threw for one more touchdown.
Now granted it came in in the overtime session, but
(09:58):
they both threw an interception. Marrioto was sacked twice, bo
Nix was sacked once. They both kind of scramble around,
kind of similar players. I would say bo Nix's arms
a little bit better, though, I think Mariota's arm was
look pretty strong to night. But one major difference is
the Commanders ran for like sixty more yards and they
(10:22):
just they had ten more carries. Like that just helps
an offense just settle down. And I think Sean Payton,
for whatever reason, gets into these positions with his quarterback
where he's like trying to prove I told you this
is my next draw, breeze, who can move? I told
you this is the guy that can lead us to
(10:42):
a super Bowl. It's like, yeah, maybe that inevitably happens,
but why are you trying to prove it on this
individual series when things are going well, settle everything down,
call some more runs, help call quarterback runs for him.
But it just feels like he's hesitant to do that,
or he just refuses to do that. But at the
(11:04):
end of the day, only New England has as many
wins as they do, and assuming New England beats the
Giants tomorrow, like the Broncos, are easily ahead of Jacksonville
and Indianapolis, who are both eight and four. The Chargers
are currently eight and four, but their quarterback is going
to have surgery on his hand tomorrow. Now. I'm pretty
(11:26):
sure it's his non throwing hand, and even Herbert said
that he expects to play in the Monday night football
game against the Eagles coming up this week. But that's
a pretty big wild card. The Chiefs are currently six
and six, The Ravens and the Steelers are six and six,
so this thing is wide open. Now. I do think
(11:50):
Denver has a better roster than the New England Patriots,
but it would be hard to argue that you would
have more faith in bo Nicks than Drake May given
the way the two guys have played this year. So
I think, listen, the AFC hasn't been this wide open
in a long long time. You could make the argument
(12:11):
in like decades, because for twenty plus years it was
mainly New England with a little bit of Peyton mixed in,
and the last five years has been Patrick Mahomes and
Andy Reid with Baltimore and Buffalo basically beating everyone else. Well,
now Buffalo is also eight and four, but they got
(12:32):
a million injuries and they don't look great. You have
the Ravens, who in any other season would be up
three games in that division. Steelers are their circle in
the drain. I have zero faith. I mean, Indianapolis is
playing a quarterback with a broken fibula and he's like, well,
(12:52):
healthy enough to play it. The doctors cleared me. It's like,
that's a great sign. They're clearly leaking major oil. No
faith in Jacksonville. You could argue Houston is one of
the hottest teams in the league, and who knows if
they can dig themselves out of that zero to three hole.
I mean they're attempting to, but Jacksonville and India. I'm
pretty sure haven't even played yet. But like Denver, if
(13:16):
they if their quarterback play was more consistent, I think
everyone would be picking them to win the AFC because
their defense wasn't that great tonight, But the totality of
the season it has been excellent, and really for two
straight years it's it's been really really good. And then
from a weapons standpoint, I mean sudden ingram RJ. Harvey
(13:37):
out of the backfield. Franklin's an explosive player like that,
they do have enough weapons. Now you lose JK. Dobbins.
Their running game, is their coach going to be willing
to call enough runs that that is definitely up for debate.
I just I don't know. Man. The af season complete
shambles right now, and Sean Payton anointed this team at
(13:59):
the beginning of the year saying, I've throughout my however,
many two decades of being a head coach, I've had
a handful of teams that I knew in training camp
had a chance right and this was one of them.
And like, I do think the way that it's broken
with the injuries, with the Chiefs being in shambles, with
(14:20):
the Ravens and how they've played with bro getting injured,
it's all for them to take. Now. Do you have
faith that they can take it? I don't, but I
don't know who else I would pick. You know, I
will see New England tomorrow. I just I'm still hesitant
to think are they good enough? You know, I think
they're a year away. Kind of like last year when
(14:41):
Washington made it to the NFC Championship Game, it was like,
is this the least talented team ever to be in
a championship game? But their quarterback was just playing out
of his mind. And there's a little bit of that
element with New England though. You know, Trevon Henderson has
added an explosive element now that he's played over the
(15:01):
course of the last month. Clearly their coach is pretty
accomplished guy a lot like Dan Quinn last year, like
he had taken a team to a Super Bowl, he
had some pelts on the wall as a coach. But
I do think this thing's pretty wide open. Today's show
(15:22):
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Speaking a wide open West,
(17:01):
I thought today the I was expecting crazier weather in
the forty nine er Browns game. I mean, last night
I follow some social media accounts, it was like a
white out. I'm like, it's gonna be snowing, it's gonna
be windy. How are they gonna be able to function?
And it turned out it was just really cold and
kind of windy, but it wasn't really like raining and snowing.
(17:23):
And that game was just an organizational We're way better
than you. It's crazy how big of a joke the
Browns are. I mean, it really is, the whole organization,
everything about him. It's like, I understand they have good players.
I mean, they have one of the great pass rushers
of all time. It looks like they're draft this year
is really good, and they just got their teeth kicked
(17:44):
in by a team that's rolling out like a UFL
front seven. And I've been saying this for a while
about you know that coach and the GM Kyle went
in there and one he has been owned by Jim Schwartz.
Jim Schwartz is eight and one against him, physically dominated him.
A couple of years ago, the year the forty nine
Ers went to the Super Bowl and lost to the Chiefs.
(18:08):
It was won the forty nine Ers that like a
three game losing streak in the middle of that season.
But today it was just from muffed punts to push
push fourth and one play calls that the tight end's fumbling.
It's like, what is going on here? And it's not
like the forty nine ers are doing anything special. They
(18:28):
couldn't run the ball. It just you know, they couldn't
tackle anybody. Jenkins. I would have given it to him
every single play. And then you look up and all
of a sudden it's like, wait, what's the score? And
the forty nine Ers win twenty six to eight. It's like,
how did this? Just because we have nothing in common
with you, we're well run, and you guys are just
(18:50):
a complete joke, I mean a complete and utter joke
of a franchise. And the forty nine Ers to find
a way to get to nine and four with the
amount of guys that they have injured is just an
incredible accomplishment. It really is. And it's crazy to think
because I would have said this is a couple of
(19:11):
weeks ago, they have absolutely no chance to win the division.
I still think it's gonna be an uphill battle. But
like they've beat the Rams at home, or excuse me,
they beat the Rams in LA, they beat Seattle in Seattle.
They still play Seattle to end the season in at
Levi Stadium. They get a bye. Their next game is
(19:32):
the Tennessee Titans. Like the forty nine ers pretty likely
are going to be ten and four. They're gonna be
ten and four that they're not losing. The Titans off
a bye in Seattle and the Rams in a couple
of weeks play each other on Thursday night. And here's
the thing, Like, like I said with Denver, when you
go on the road and you play a bad team,
(19:56):
I don't want to say the Panthers are are like bad.
I mean they're six and six, but I think after
that Niner game, you don't take them quite as seriously.
You go on the road, it's rainy, your time clock's
a little thrown off. You just kind of get into
a weird game. And Matt Stafford clearly played the worst
game of the season. Right throws a pick, six, throws
(20:16):
another pick, has a fumble that could have been a
fumble six. Luckily they were able to tackle the guy.
It was just off kilter, and all of a sudden
you're like, ah, because every time I would look over,
I'd be like, I still think the Rams are gonna
pull this one out, and then all of a sudden
you're like, no, actually they're not. And then all of
a sudden, Bryce Young is doing the victory formation. You're like,
(20:39):
the Rams just lost that game, and now they're nine
to three. And so the forty nine Ers have the
same amount of wins as both those other teams. I
mean that is, I don't think anyone would have saw
this coming, that the forty nine ers, Seattle and the Rams.
If I would have told you a month ago would
all have nine wins after Thanksgiving weekend, you would have
told me, I'm on drug. Now, Seattle, I don't want
(21:02):
to say lucky. They played a team that essentially did
not have a quarterback today. I mean that kid that
the Vikings rolled out. There are a lot of conspiracy
theories on the internet about JJ McCarthy. I did buy
in some of them. With the ankle injury, it was
clearly the longest ankle sprain in the history of the NFL.
(21:24):
I do think the concussion thing, he's not the first
and he won't be the last guy to get concussion
like symptoms, either the next day or on the plane
ride home that happens. I didn't have the audio on
that game, so I'm sure they talked about it. Typically,
when a guy is in the concussion protocol and he
can't pass, doesn't always travel with the team. Maybe they
(21:46):
make exceptions for a quarterback because they wanted to listen.
I don't know. I don't think you're you know, it's
great for you to travel. He clearly did, and he
was on the sideline. But there is no disputing their
quarterback situation is the worst in the league. It's an
absolute joke. And Seattle could have rolled out me at
quarterback and just handed the ball off every single time
(22:07):
and they would have won that game. So Sam didn't
really have to do much. But this thing's wide open
and things get weird. The reason I like the forty
nine ers to make the playoffs at the beginning of
the year because their schedule is pretty easy. I actually
take took the Browns kind of seriously. Today. Turns out
I shouldn't have because the Niners are just way better
(22:31):
even though they got a random a lot of random dudes.
And you know, Miles Garrett had a sack today on
Trent Williams kind of smoked them actually in an inside move.
It was kind of sweet. But yeah, this division is
about to get really, really weird. Before we dive into Tomlin,
actually let's just dive into this. Let me tell you
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(23:36):
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download the game Time app today. I want to defend
Mike Tomlin a little bit. Obviously, they're teams and chambles
and they could just lose out. I mean they are.
(23:59):
They're six and they've lost one, two, three, four, five,
five of their last seven, three of their last four.
Chargers kicked their ass. Bears just handled them in the
second half, and obviously the Bills to day won twenty
(24:19):
six to seven. Their team is not very good. They
have a poorly constructed roster and in the NFL were
in college even the best coaches like Listen, I'm giving
Kyle Shanahan a lot of credit. Again, the Browns he
still got, George Kittle still has Juwan Jennings, who clearly
(24:42):
has pissing a lot of people off. I don't know
what Juwan's saying to people, but Shelby Harris said after
the game, you know that Juwan Jennings got hitting the
nuts last week, deserved to get hit in the mouth.
So because of the things he's saying to guys when
they're on the ground, I love to know a little
bit more. But you know the forty nine ers of
(25:03):
credible offensive players. But you can only do so much right.
It's about the Jimmy's and the Joe's, and the exes
and the o's. Now, I've been saying for a while
in coaching, I don't care who you are, pat Riley,
Bill Parcells, Andy Reid, you go to different sports. Most
people have a shelf life and need a restart, need
(25:28):
a reset. We're seeing it this year with Mike Vrabel.
Mike Vrabel was told a year ago in Tennessee, you
need to pack your shit and get out of here.
Took a year off, kind of got a fresh look
at everything, got to reset, got to put a little
chip on his shoulder. Comes to New England, is kicking
ass and taking names, and I think Mike Tomlin will
(25:48):
really really benefit from that. But that's between him and
the Steelers, and if they want him have him as
the coach for life, that's their prerogative. One thing I
would say to Mike if I knew him, was like,
you need a little more help in the front office,
Like back when Kevin Colbert was your right hand man.
You guys had a point of difference. You guys had
(26:10):
an advantage when I got into the league in twenty ten,
definitely when I was a kid in college in the
two thousands, and then even once I left the league
in the mid twenty tens, the Steelers were looked at
like a high level scouting operation. The way they evaluated players,
the way they signed players, the way they drafted players.
(26:33):
And I look at their team now, they kind of
just constructed a roster like you or me might do
if we're sixteen years old on Madden, kind of desperate
at Aaron Rodgers trade for Jalen Ramsey, trade for DK Metcalf.
That doesn't seem like what a well run operation would do, though,
(26:53):
if they were trying to win games on Sunday in
the actual National Football League. And I don't think it's
by coincidence that they're getting their ass kicked by all
the good teams, the Packers, the Chargers, the Bears, the Bills.
I mean, think about that, all the games that they
have lost over the course of the last month plus
(27:13):
are two teams that the Packers, the Chargers, the Bears,
and the Bills that are going to be in the playoffs.
And they're getting worked for the most part in these
performances because they don't have the talent, they don't have
the rosters. The Buffalo Bills today are missing their two tackles.
(27:34):
So if you tell me, I'm the Pittsburgh Steelers and
I get to play a team, whether it's a team
that last year was in the ANFC Championship Game or
a team that's going to be drafting in the top
ten and they don't have their two starting tackles in
a league that struggles to find decent offensive linemen, let
(27:54):
alone backups who can fill the spot for starters. I
would have been like, you should be able to make
this game weird. And I saw TJ. Watt talking about
the game after in his postgame press conference, was basically like,
I can just talk about the defense, but we're terrible
we're just not very good. I'd be like, yeah, because
(28:16):
in a game when you're playing backup tackles, you should dominate.
If you put Miles Garrett first a backup tackle, you
could convince me he'd have nine sacks. And I just
watched the Steelers and I watched the Bills. I go,
Bills just have more talent. I'm not even talking about
Josh Allen. Then you factor in that your quarterback who's
(28:39):
about to be forty two years old, has a cast
on his hand. On the one play where he got
sacked by Joey Bosa, had his face slammed into the ground.
I mean after the game, he looked like he just thought.
I was gonna say Floyd, But Floyd doesn't really hit you.
He just kind of dances around, more like Mike Tyson
or something that got blasted in the nose. And I actually,
(29:01):
and I said this to Coward. I respect Aaron because
when you've made that much money and you've checked every
box you need to check for your quote unquote legacy
and your resume as a football player, you don't need this.
Right in twenty years, no one's going to talk about
(29:22):
the last year you played in the NFL for the
Pittsburgh Steelers of the year they went eight nine or
nine and eight. It will be an afterthought on the
way people discuss your career, right, and him playing in
that game with a cast on his hand, and I
get it's his non throwing hand. I got to tip
my hat to him. But you could argue even just
(29:44):
getting into business with him now, they didn't have many
other options, Like what do you think of forty one
to forty two year old is going to be in
the NFL? This is typically how it goes. It is
typically ugly. You know, Brady going to forty four forty five,
that's abnormal. We're not gonna see that anymore. The norm
(30:05):
is Matt Ryan is, Philip Rivers is Big Ben is,
Drew Brees is Eli Manning is the crew of Peers
that Aaron Rodgers had that when they got thirty seven,
thirty eight, thirty nine, Peyton Manning his last year in Denver,
they fall off a cliff. They're not nearly as good now.
(30:26):
Depending on how your team is built. Peyton Manning plays
on a team with an elite defense and Julius Thomas
to Marius Thomas, a good offensive line like other good player,
Emmanuel Sanders. I think they had a lot of talent
on the team. That's not the case here. This team
is poorly built. And I started texting around to just
(30:48):
my buddies out there in the trenches of football scouting,
and I got a couple of people to hit me back,
beg John that their scouting staf's kind of embarrassment and
it shows. And I get the Rooney's take a lot
of pride in continuity, consistency, and patience, I guess is
(31:08):
a word, but it's easy to be patient when in
the nineties or the two thousands, when you're going to
a lot of conference championship games, when you have Super
Bowl bursts, when you look over and you go, we're
six and six, we're technically not even in first place.
And honestly, the only reason we have a prayer this
year is because Lamar Jackson got banged up and they
(31:31):
had some other injuries early in the season. I would
say a typical year, at minimum they're two games behind
the Ravens, and that would be the Ravens having a
weird season at eight and four. So I think if
you're the Steelers' ownership, you got to look in the
mirror and ask yourself what's going on? And did Mike
(31:53):
Tomlin get dumb overnight? No, but clearly the talent on
our roster is has dramatically fallen off since early in
his ten year And even we go back to like
when they were winning playoff games in the twenty tens,
they had a lot of impact guys at a lot
of different positions, and they just the other guys that
(32:14):
weren't Pro bowlers just felt like guys that would start
on every team, and they were just well built. They
just wore a balanced team. And I watched this team
and I've been saying this now for weeks. They're just
not well built. And you Steeler fans that are closer
to the sun on this no more than me. But
(32:35):
it does feel the influence Tomlin has if he's picking
the players or has a lot of influence on the draft.
Maybe I'm out of touch on this, it does feel
like the front office has really screwed them and put
them in a position to have no chance against the
good teams in the NFL because, simply put, they're just
not a good team. Okay, a couple other things before
(32:59):
we get out of here, I do think one thing
college football has going for him is unlike the NFL
because of the way their system is built with the conferences.
It's kind of like Pro football now, especially with the
NIL meets the Real Housewives, you know, because the NFL
(33:20):
doesn't have the capability to steal coaches. So that element
is something that just brings a drama and a reality
television element, especially in the South, that we just don't
get in the NFL. And the Lane Kiffin saga in
a weird way, is fantastic for college football. Why because
(33:44):
everyone has an opinion. It's one of those that you
could ask someone that doesn't even watch that much college
football and they would have a take, Oh, he's fucking
over his guys. It's like you would never turn down
that much. Tell USU, what are you talking about. Every
single person's gonna have an opinion. And I do believe
I'm not someone that's scared to take a stance. This
(34:06):
was always gonna be messy. And I've heard a couple
of people say, and I do agree with this, And
I watched the documentary that he did on A sixty.
I think it was pretty clear that this year was
a lot about changing his image, or at least letting
the world know that he has changed his image. Right,
Let everyone know I'm sober. The hot yoga thing became
(34:28):
really really big. My health, my wellness, my family now
has all moved back around me. I'm around my kids,
I'm around my ex wife. I text someone at night?
Does that mean him and his ex and I text
someone that knows him pretty well? It's like, do they
like live together? Do they sleep in the same bed?
Or is it like his ex wife just moved into
(34:49):
town because their son is there now? And I couldn't
quite get a real answer. But that's not the point
of this whole thing. And maybe they're back in love,
maybe they're not. But hey, I'm a family man. It's
almost like a politician. You're a stronger politician if you're married,
if you can take Christmas card photos with your three children,
(35:12):
then if you're just standing there with a couple of
your boys and a couple of twelve bacs, I mean,
you just look much more hirable when you check all
the boxes that society has told you to check. And
let's face it, for a long time and even Lane
admitted this, he wasn't checking any of them And here's
the other thing. He has been trying to get all
these jobs four years. I know for and I don't
(35:35):
blame him. I know for a fact he really wanted
the Oregon job several years ago when Mario went to
Miami and they wouldn't even talk to him. Think how
crazy that sounds now. Now clearly they made a great
hire with Dan Lanning, but at the time they would
not even interview Lane Kiffen and he obviously was on
(35:56):
the fence a couple of years about Auburn ended up
staying at Old Miss. Think about that, because I talk
about this a lot that if the Alabama thing, and
I've probably tweeted this, like, he'll just go back to Alabama.
Alabama was open last year and guess who controls all
of this Jimmy Sexton. Well, who's his number one client
and kind of has to do whatever he tells him
(36:18):
to do when it comes to some of this stuff.
Nick Saban and Alabama definitely wants Nick retired, was not
going to hire someone that Nick did not want them
to hire. So you're telling me that last year when
Alabama came available, Lane Kiffin wouldn't have been interested in
the job. Well, guess what, Alabama wouldn't have hired him.
And I think Lane Kiffin knew it. And I don't
(36:38):
think the sixty thing was random, and listen, pr propaganda.
We live in a world of at all. Clearly, I
don't know Lane. I haven't talked to him in a
long long time, but my Fresno ties it's where Lane
went to college. I know a lot of people that
know him well. My good buddy Tim Skipper played on
the college football team with him. John Baxter, who's the
(36:59):
special teams coach at Fresno State, was a special teams
coach at USC. Like, listen, I think what everyone says,
Lane's a different cat. I do think the drinking and
the partying was a big kind of X factor to
his life, and I think he wanted to show everyone
that is behind him. And you just look at him
like he just looks sober with his skinny face, and
(37:22):
clearly health is a big, you know, part of his
life now. I also think though he's like treated like
he's Nick Saban, it's like guys. I mean, last year,
a lot of people thought beside Ohio State had the
best roster in the country and didn't even make the playoffs.
(37:42):
Now this year, he's done a really good job. What's
his best win? Oklahoma? Again, I'm not trying to diminish
any of his accomplishments. My point is that he's talked
about like he's Nick Saban or Urban Meyer, and I
think it's more of a product of this hype machine
we work in now part of it. He's a huge
personality and that always and will always work in college football,
(38:05):
and it's fun. I enjoy it. I like following this
whole thing. I'm entertained by it. I understand if you're
an old mis fan, you hate him, you're going to
believe in that one. You know, the guy that said
you can't turn a hoe into a housewife. The I
don't know if he's a local reporter, local podcaster that
(38:29):
clearly pissed Lane off. Like that analogy kind of works
your lane, like based on your career, you're kind of
a nomad bouncing around, whether you're getting fired like at
USC or like when Nick Saban fired you, or like
now you have a playoff team and you're choosing to
go to LSU, which may age as being the right decision,
(38:50):
may age to not because the one thing in the SEC.
Whether you're a huge personality, or whether you're an asshole,
or whether you're a big talker, or whether you're an
introverted don't say much. If you win, no one cares.
But if you don't, and I mean especially at LSU,
(39:12):
at Florida, at Bama, look at Kaitlin Dubor. He was
probably a couple minutes away from Auburn scoring and if
they went for two, losing that game to basically being
forced to having to go to Penn State just because
nine to three would not have been accepted. Missing the
(39:33):
playoffs would not have been allowed because their expectations there
are so high. And I think the lane is going
to have the Hooplah, the hype machine. It's going to
be a lot of fun. And I'm excited to watch
him at LSU. I love the drama of this. I'm
very entertained by this as an outsider, as someone who
doesn't have a specific team. I gravitated for years to
(39:57):
Nick Saban just because I enjoyed watching Alabama play. But
I just enjoy the drama of the SEC and I
can't wait to watch this and when LSU goes back
to Old Miss next year. The animosity the anger. It's
gonna be a lot of fun, but you better win,
(40:18):
you better win big. And I think you get all
this money, you get all this hype, eventually you start
playing games, and you know what he did at Old Miss.
There's just there's a bigger magnifying glass at LSU, and
it's gonna be fascinating to watch. Now. I do think
some of these guys, there's no disputing Lane's offensive mind.
(40:41):
He's clearly pretty brilliant, you know, going back to USC days,
to Alabama when he was with Saban, to what he's
done at FAU and clearly at at ole Miss. But
I just think this thing is gonna be it's gonna
be crazy, and it's gonna be intense. And the hate
the other thing in sports, like sometimes you need villains
(41:04):
like you can't just have it's the problem. Like I
love the PGA Tour. Every guy's just too nice now
all their villains play on the Live Tour, Like you
need some Draymond Greens and Dennis Rodmans. You can't have
everyone being buddy buddy. I need people like I say
this all the time. It speaks to like Ohio State
(41:24):
and the Lakers that I root against you. That's a
powerful thing. People root against the Yankees, people root against
Duke Basketball. No one roots against the Arizona Cardinals. No
one roots against the Jacksonville Jaguars. No No one roots
against the Atlanta Hawks. But like some people hated Nick Saban,
(41:48):
people hated Coach k people hate Rick Pottino or John Calipari.
People just want to root against the people hated Brian Kelly.
Since Lincoln Riley has gone to USC, I find myself
kind of rooting against him. I don't even know why.
You just need people to root against. That's the power
of sports. You can't the programs or the teams that
(42:12):
are just fans don't care about. That's a problem. So
LSU now is gonna a lot of people in the
SEC are gonna root against them. That's good. That's because
of Lane and he's become the number one villain in
college football. He's an extremely polarizing individual. And buckle up
(42:33):
because I can't wait to watch it. Daniel Craig returns
as Ben wa Blank in the Wake Up dead Man,
A knives out Mystery with an all star assembled cast
for his most dangerous case yet. When the young priest
jud duplensity is set to assist a charismatic fire brand
(42:56):
man Signor Jefferson Wicks. It's clear that all is not
well in the Pews. Written and directed by Ryan Johnson,
critics are calling it the sharpest knives out movie yet.
Wake Up Dead Man, a knives Out mystery in select
theaters November twenty sixth and on Netflix December twelfth, rated
PG thirteen. I saw a story today from Jeff Darlington
(43:24):
about Dave Caldwell, the former Jags GM who was actually
working for the Philadelphia Eagles, I think for the last
six or seven years, and he's leaving the Eagles to
become the GM for Florida. And I do believe, and
I've been saying this for a while whenever this topic
comes up, that a lot of guys in the NFL
(43:45):
that are like the third or fourth guy. Like if
you're the college scouting director or you're like the head
SEC scout. If you get the opportunity to be the
GM of the LSU for Lane, or be the GM
for Florida, or be the GM for Clemson, or be
the GM for Ohio State, these jobs are pretty elite
because a lot of them pay, you know, to Jim Naggy,
(44:10):
who is a longtime NFL scout, ran the Senior Bowl
once Phil Savage left, and now he is the general
manager at Oklahoma. I'm pretty sure he makes eight hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. So unlike when you're a road
scout and you have to travel over the place, you
basically are just in house and because of the current rules,
(44:32):
you can't go on the road and recruit. So from
a travel perspective, beside going to the team's away games,
it's a pretty good gig. Now it's hard, long days,
long hours. But if you're already having that gig in
the NFL at a either on the road for a
team or like an in house pro scouting director, you're
working crazy hours anyway and not making nearly as much money.
(44:57):
I was texting someone today, I've never signed a one
hundred million dollar contract, but I can't imagine some of
these guys that are making a one hundred million dollars
in the SEC that live in these towns. How many
homes in Baton Rouge or Oxford, Mississippi are worth like
over three million dollars. You know, this was the thing
when Lincoln went to USC he had just built like
(45:20):
a new mansion, and they're like, who's he gonna sell
it to. There's no one in Norman, Oklahoma that is
gonna buy this off them, So USC had to spend
the money to essentially just buy his property. And I
do think these guys are just living. Like Lane Kiffin's
gonna make twelve or thirteen million dollars to be the
(45:41):
head coach in Baton Rouge. He's been making eight, nine,
ten million dollars for the last four or five years
in Oxford, Mississippi. Like the amount of money he is
making right now, I bet he is making the equivalent
of some NFL players making like twenty or twenty five
million that are living in a place like Los Angeles,
San Francisco or New York when you factor in the taxes,
(46:03):
when you factor in the cost of living, like he
is swimming in money. And I think a lot of
these college football programs are the assistants the gms, Like
this is a really good time. When I worked in
college football, none of these jobs existed. Definitely, none of
this money was near at this level. So I get
(46:24):
asked a lot of times, like how do you get involved?
If I want to get into scouting. There is a
direct route now in college football, and you don't have
to start out as like the GM, but just like
get your foot in the door. All these programs are
building and creating scouting departments that did not exist a
decade ago. Saban kind of started it, maybe in the
(46:48):
twenty ten eleven twelve range, and by the end of
last decade kind of everyone's copied now because of the
growth and the wealth of the sport. There's a lot
of money behind it. And it's not like, well, you
can work for the program, but we can give you
a two hundred dollars a week stipend. It's like, now
we got three positions, they all pay seventy five thousand dollars,
(47:09):
and then you can be the number two make four
hundred thousand dollars, and then you can be the GM
and make nine hundred grand. So it's it's a crazy business.
The Lang Kiffin story was nuts, and we just got
to buckle up and enjoy it. Have a great night.
Hopefully you guys had a good week, and talk to everyone.
We see everyone on Monday morning. Oh yeah, really quick
before before we get out of here. Thanks my man.
(47:32):
Shane for reminding me hard rock bet. All our lines
are brought to you by them. They've been great partners,
and I do like a lot of underdogs in this
situation when they're playing in prime time, because for the
New York Giants won since my Kafka has taken over,
they have that they could have gone to and all right,
they could have beat the Packers, and they could have
(47:53):
beat the Lions. They've played well. I also think Jackson
Dart's coming back should give him a little life. They're
bound to win one of these games. I mean no
team has blown more late leads. Obviously, they just fired
their defensive coordinator. I just think seven points a lot.
We have seen multiple seven point plus underdogs, whether it's
(48:13):
the Bears, whether it's the Bengals, cover, go on the
road and cover actually outright win. So I'm gonna take
the I'm gonna take the Giants getting a touchdown and yeah,
so that's the way I will roll. Have a great night.
(48:36):
The volume
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
Hopefully everyone is doing well, enjoying life, doing great. Obviously
(00:24):
we're brought to you by my friends at Zone Pouches
and uh we just is pretty late somehow. The Denver
Broncos pulled that off. Marcus Mariota, as Collinsworth was saying,
just would not die. But the Broncos are now ten
and two, tied for the best record in the NFL,
have a commanding lead in the AFC West, and look
(00:48):
poised to compete for the number one seat, even though
their quarterback and offense can be very very hit or miss.
Their defense was a little off as well tonight. But
a lot of other stuff going on the NFC West
wide open, Mike Tomlin and the Steelers and shambles and
even I mean they were the ones saying it not
not me and Lane Kiffin is an LSU Tiger. So
(01:10):
we'll dive into it all. Busy week, we had a
lot of content. We we did a podcast after the
Thanksgiving games, we did a podcast after the Black Friday game,
and now we're rocking and rolling here on Sunday night,
and we'll be back again Monday night. So Hopefully everyone
had a good day, good weekend, enjoyed friends and family,
(01:30):
and now it's time to you know, get get get
back to get back to real life. Get back to reality,
I guess. Obviously, subscribe to the podcast if you listen
on Collin's feet, appreciate everyone. Subscribe to the YouTube channel.
You never miss a thing. We go live after all
these uh these primetime games and uh and yeah, that
that'll be the game plan. But before we dive into
(01:52):
any football, you know, I got to tell you about
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for twenty percent off at checkout. It's been a long weekend,
but let's just start with the Denver Broncos, who I
don't even I have a philosophy. When, as you know,
(02:40):
you get late November, early December, I think we will
see this tomorrow on Monday Night football. When you take
a team that's ten and one or eleven and two,
and you're playing a team that's a three or four
win team that is headed toward potentially drafting in the
top five or six. Right, these are human beings. So
(03:00):
when you look at your opponent, you just don't take
them as seriously. And one thing, if you watch a
lot of NFL football on Sunday, don't blame you if
you did not. Unlike the guys that play on Thursday,
they don't eat their Thanksgiving meal till after the game.
I do think there's like the trip to Fan kind
of lack of focus. I thought it was pretty spotty
(03:24):
play throughout the league today and it kind of carried
into the night game where it just feels a little nah,
something's missing, especially from Denver, who still has a lot
to play for. I mean, getting a home field, the
number one seed you know in Denver is a huge,
huge swing moment for teams going to Mile High. Right,
(03:46):
and you're watching tonight you go, is there a team
with a bigger variance in the NFL that's a good
team than the Denver Broncos. I mean, you can watch
them on individual series when you're like they're deep, it's incredible.
Hufunga was just a plug in play, looks like an
all Pro. Their pass rush is awesome. Obviously he stands
(04:08):
back in the mix. He's one of the best defensive
backs in the league. But then they got Riley Moss,
who Marcus mary Ota made him look like he should
be on a practice squad. I mean, Riley Moss's It
is very, very difficult in this modern free agency era
to have a perfect defense or a perfect defense. You're
(04:32):
typically gonna have a liability somewhere right, a guy that
you would like to replace. But it's just it's hard.
You're not gonna have all eleven high end starters. So yeah,
we got eleven Pro Bowlers, Like this isn't the mid
nineties and it's the Cowboys are the forty nine ers.
There's the free agency era. You're just gonna have some
individuals who were on the field with some limitations, and
(04:55):
clearly when it comes to Riley Moss, like if you're
gonna do anything. That's who you're gonna throw after. And
they just went after him relentlessly tonight, and you know,
he's just targeted constantly throughout this entire season. A couple
of weeks ago, I remember watching the game. I don't
know if it's still the case. Led the league in
pass interferences tonight with the game on the line. Deebo Samuel,
(05:18):
who isn't exactly Jerry Rice or Marvin Harrison, not junior
but senior when it comes to route running and when
the ball is not in his hands, I wouldn't consider
Debo to play fast, goes right by him. I mean
almost almost scored, ended up leading to what would have
been the game tying touchdown in overtime, but obviously they
(05:42):
went for two instead of kicking the field goal and
Mariota didn't get it. Now, I do believe that Mariota
tonight looked really good through for basically three hundred yards.
I mean, you watch games like tonight like Mariota is
a high end backup and the athletic ability to keep
(06:02):
plays alive with his legs a little inaccurate at times,
but has a pretty explosive arm. Just a good player.
Really high level guy. People love him and was playing
really well, like was giving Denver all that they could handle.
But I go back to these are human beings. And
when you go into a game against a team that
(06:23):
is three and eight, whose star quarterback is watching the
game from a box, whose team is just not played
very well, you don't take him as seriously. And that's
what I just wonder Denver coming into this game. Now
there's an entire other element where bo Nix is a
giant wild card. Like there were series like at the
(06:43):
end of the first half, what was the score they had?
Just Washington had scored a touchdown to made it seven
to six, and Denver got the ball back with a
little over two minutes to go, and you went, you
know what, you want to get some points at least
you have a lead going in a halftime. Maybe it's
nine to six. In a perfect world, you get a
(07:05):
touchdown and you go up, you know, thirteen to seven,
and bo Knicks gets the ball leads them right down
the field on touchdown drive. You're like, well, that's the
good bow Knicks. And then in the second half there's
a play where he throws it right to Bobby Wagner,
who Bobby Wagner didn't even move. He basically took a
step back from where he was lined up pre snap,
(07:27):
and bo immediately grabs his helmet like this. For those
of you listening, he just puts his helmet or puts
his hands on his helmet. Obviously, many of you are
probably watching the game and it's like that can't happen.
And you could convince me that Denver could win the
AFC pretty easily if they get number one seed, win
both games and be the representation in the super Bowl.
(07:49):
I have a ticket on them to go to the
super Bowl. You could also convince me they could lose
in the first round, right If New England gets the
number one seed, they're the two seed depending on who
they play as a seventh seed. It would not shock
me at all if bo Nick just has a game
where throws a couple of picks, their offense doesn't do much,
and they just lose a game like fifteen to thirteen,
(08:10):
that would one hundred percent be on the table. That's
why I think that there is not a team with
the high end and the low end that is going
to be in the playoffs like the Denver Broncos, and
it kind of goes to bow Knicks, and I also
think sometimes Sean Payton plays a role in this. We'll
talk about the Panther game a little bit later, but
(08:31):
when we discussed that game when they played the forty
nine ers, it was like, why didn't you run the
ball more? How did you only have thirteen carries in
a game where your quarterback was just a little hit
or miss. And tonight like RJ. Harvey had thirteen carries,
you got, well, John, he only had thirty five yards
averaging you know, under three yards of carry. Well, that's
part of being an offensive coach. Just slow down the
(08:54):
game a little bit and eventually your guy's gonna break one.
Maybe not for fifty yards, but if it's twenty yards
or thirty yards or even fifteen yards. There's a level
of you know, controlling the clock and establishing a physicality
on offense and also taking some of the pressure off
your quarterback. Because bo Knicks gets in these streaks where
(09:15):
he's like running around, skipping balls at guy's feet and
you're like, this is what is going on? And I
there probably hasn't been a more frustrating player throughout this
season on a good team than bo Knicks for the Broncos.
It's like you watch individual series, you go, god, it's
really impressive. Then you watch into individual series and you go,
(09:37):
that's terrible. You could leave this game and make the
argument that Mariota played him tonight. You know, I'm not
even just factoring in numbers. Mariota was a little less accurate.
They basically threw similar yardage. Mariota threw for one more touchdown.
Now granted it came in in the overtime session, but
(09:58):
they both threw an interception. Marrioto was sacked twice, bo
Nix was sacked once. They both kind of scramble around,
kind of similar players. I would say bo Nix's arms
a little bit better, though, I think Mariota's arm was
look pretty strong to night. But one major difference is
the Commanders ran for like sixty more yards and they
(10:22):
just they had ten more carries. Like that just helps
an offense just settle down. And I think Sean Payton,
for whatever reason, gets into these positions with his quarterback
where he's like trying to prove I told you this
is my next draw, breeze, who can move? I told
you this is the guy that can lead us to
(10:42):
a super Bowl. It's like, yeah, maybe that inevitably happens,
but why are you trying to prove it on this
individual series when things are going well, settle everything down,
call some more runs, help call quarterback runs for him.
But it just feels like he's hesitant to do that,
or he just refuses to do that. But at the
(11:04):
end of the day, only New England has as many
wins as they do, and assuming New England beats the
Giants tomorrow, like the Broncos, are easily ahead of Jacksonville
and Indianapolis, who are both eight and four. The Chargers
are currently eight and four, but their quarterback is going
to have surgery on his hand tomorrow. Now. I'm pretty
(11:26):
sure it's his non throwing hand, and even Herbert said
that he expects to play in the Monday night football
game against the Eagles coming up this week. But that's
a pretty big wild card. The Chiefs are currently six
and six, The Ravens and the Steelers are six and six,
so this thing is wide open. Now. I do think
(11:50):
Denver has a better roster than the New England Patriots,
but it would be hard to argue that you would
have more faith in bo Nicks than Drake May given
the way the two guys have played this year. So
I think, listen, the AFC hasn't been this wide open
in a long long time. You could make the argument
(12:11):
in like decades, because for twenty plus years it was
mainly New England with a little bit of Peyton mixed in,
and the last five years has been Patrick Mahomes and
Andy Reid with Baltimore and Buffalo basically beating everyone else. Well,
now Buffalo is also eight and four, but they got
(12:32):
a million injuries and they don't look great. You have
the Ravens, who in any other season would be up
three games in that division. Steelers are their circle in
the drain. I have zero faith. I mean, Indianapolis is
playing a quarterback with a broken fibula and he's like, well,
(12:52):
healthy enough to play it. The doctors cleared me. It's like,
that's a great sign. They're clearly leaking major oil. No
faith in Jacksonville. You could argue Houston is one of
the hottest teams in the league, and who knows if
they can dig themselves out of that zero to three hole.
I mean they're attempting to, but Jacksonville and India. I'm
pretty sure haven't even played yet. But like Denver, if
(13:16):
they if their quarterback play was more consistent, I think
everyone would be picking them to win the AFC because
their defense wasn't that great tonight, But the totality of
the season it has been excellent, and really for two
straight years it's it's been really really good. And then
from a weapons standpoint, I mean sudden ingram RJ. Harvey
(13:37):
out of the backfield. Franklin's an explosive player like that,
they do have enough weapons. Now you lose JK. Dobbins.
Their running game, is their coach going to be willing
to call enough runs that that is definitely up for debate.
I just I don't know. Man. The af season complete
shambles right now, and Sean Payton anointed this team at
(13:59):
the beginning of the year saying, I've throughout my however,
many two decades of being a head coach, I've had
a handful of teams that I knew in training camp
had a chance right and this was one of them.
And like, I do think the way that it's broken
with the injuries, with the Chiefs being in shambles, with
(14:20):
the Ravens and how they've played with bro getting injured,
it's all for them to take. Now. Do you have
faith that they can take it? I don't, but I
don't know who else I would pick. You know, I
will see New England tomorrow. I just I'm still hesitant
to think are they good enough? You know, I think
they're a year away. Kind of like last year when
(14:41):
Washington made it to the NFC Championship Game, it was like,
is this the least talented team ever to be in
a championship game? But their quarterback was just playing out
of his mind. And there's a little bit of that
element with New England though. You know, Trevon Henderson has
added an explosive element now that he's played over the
(15:01):
course of the last month. Clearly their coach is pretty
accomplished guy a lot like Dan Quinn last year, like
he had taken a team to a Super Bowl, he
had some pelts on the wall as a coach. But
I do think this thing's pretty wide open. Today's show
(15:22):
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New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Speaking a wide open West,
(17:01):
I thought today the I was expecting crazier weather in
the forty nine er Browns game. I mean, last night
I follow some social media accounts, it was like a
white out. I'm like, it's gonna be snowing, it's gonna
be windy. How are they gonna be able to function?
And it turned out it was just really cold and
kind of windy, but it wasn't really like raining and snowing.
(17:23):
And that game was just an organizational We're way better
than you. It's crazy how big of a joke the
Browns are. I mean, it really is, the whole organization,
everything about him. It's like, I understand they have good players.
I mean, they have one of the great pass rushers
of all time. It looks like they're draft this year
is really good, and they just got their teeth kicked
(17:44):
in by a team that's rolling out like a UFL
front seven. And I've been saying this for a while
about you know that coach and the GM Kyle went
in there and one he has been owned by Jim Schwartz.
Jim Schwartz is eight and one against him, physically dominated him.
A couple of years ago, the year the forty nine
Ers went to the Super Bowl and lost to the Chiefs.
(18:08):
It was won the forty nine Ers that like a
three game losing streak in the middle of that season.
But today it was just from muffed punts to push
push fourth and one play calls that the tight end's fumbling.
It's like, what is going on here? And it's not
like the forty nine ers are doing anything special. They
(18:28):
couldn't run the ball. It just you know, they couldn't
tackle anybody. Jenkins. I would have given it to him
every single play. And then you look up and all
of a sudden it's like, wait, what's the score? And
the forty nine Ers win twenty six to eight. It's like,
how did this? Just because we have nothing in common
with you, we're well run, and you guys are just
(18:50):
a complete joke, I mean a complete and utter joke
of a franchise. And the forty nine Ers to find
a way to get to nine and four with the
amount of guys that they have injured is just an
incredible accomplishment. It really is. And it's crazy to think
because I would have said this is a couple of
(19:11):
weeks ago, they have absolutely no chance to win the division.
I still think it's gonna be an uphill battle. But
like they've beat the Rams at home, or excuse me,
they beat the Rams in LA, they beat Seattle in Seattle.
They still play Seattle to end the season in at
Levi Stadium. They get a bye. Their next game is
(19:32):
the Tennessee Titans. Like the forty nine ers pretty likely
are going to be ten and four. They're gonna be
ten and four that they're not losing. The Titans off
a bye in Seattle and the Rams in a couple
of weeks play each other on Thursday night. And here's
the thing, Like, like I said with Denver, when you
go on the road and you play a bad team,
(19:56):
I don't want to say the Panthers are are like bad.
I mean they're six and six, but I think after
that Niner game, you don't take them quite as seriously.
You go on the road, it's rainy, your time clock's
a little thrown off. You just kind of get into
a weird game. And Matt Stafford clearly played the worst
game of the season. Right throws a pick, six, throws
(20:16):
another pick, has a fumble that could have been a
fumble six. Luckily they were able to tackle the guy.
It was just off kilter, and all of a sudden
you're like, ah, because every time I would look over,
I'd be like, I still think the Rams are gonna
pull this one out, and then all of a sudden
you're like, no, actually they're not. And then all of
a sudden, Bryce Young is doing the victory formation. You're like,
(20:39):
the Rams just lost that game, and now they're nine
to three. And so the forty nine Ers have the
same amount of wins as both those other teams. I
mean that is, I don't think anyone would have saw
this coming, that the forty nine ers, Seattle and the Rams.
If I would have told you a month ago would
all have nine wins after Thanksgiving weekend, you would have
told me, I'm on drug. Now, Seattle, I don't want
(21:02):
to say lucky. They played a team that essentially did
not have a quarterback today. I mean that kid that
the Vikings rolled out. There are a lot of conspiracy
theories on the internet about JJ McCarthy. I did buy
in some of them. With the ankle injury, it was
clearly the longest ankle sprain in the history of the NFL.
(21:24):
I do think the concussion thing, he's not the first
and he won't be the last guy to get concussion
like symptoms, either the next day or on the plane
ride home that happens. I didn't have the audio on
that game, so I'm sure they talked about it. Typically,
when a guy is in the concussion protocol and he
can't pass, doesn't always travel with the team. Maybe they
(21:46):
make exceptions for a quarterback because they wanted to listen.
I don't know. I don't think you're you know, it's
great for you to travel. He clearly did, and he
was on the sideline. But there is no disputing their
quarterback situation is the worst in the league. It's an
absolute joke. And Seattle could have rolled out me at
quarterback and just handed the ball off every single time
(22:07):
and they would have won that game. So Sam didn't
really have to do much. But this thing's wide open
and things get weird. The reason I like the forty
nine ers to make the playoffs at the beginning of
the year because their schedule is pretty easy. I actually
take took the Browns kind of seriously. Today. Turns out
I shouldn't have because the Niners are just way better
(22:31):
even though they got a random a lot of random dudes.
And you know, Miles Garrett had a sack today on
Trent Williams kind of smoked them actually in an inside move.
It was kind of sweet. But yeah, this division is
about to get really, really weird. Before we dive into Tomlin,
actually let's just dive into this. Let me tell you
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download the game Time app today. I want to defend
Mike Tomlin a little bit. Obviously, they're teams and chambles
and they could just lose out. I mean they are.
(23:59):
They're six and they've lost one, two, three, four, five,
five of their last seven, three of their last four.
Chargers kicked their ass. Bears just handled them in the
second half, and obviously the Bills to day won twenty
(24:19):
six to seven. Their team is not very good. They
have a poorly constructed roster and in the NFL were
in college even the best coaches like Listen, I'm giving
Kyle Shanahan a lot of credit. Again, the Browns he
still got, George Kittle still has Juwan Jennings, who clearly
(24:42):
has pissing a lot of people off. I don't know
what Juwan's saying to people, but Shelby Harris said after
the game, you know that Juwan Jennings got hitting the
nuts last week, deserved to get hit in the mouth.
So because of the things he's saying to guys when
they're on the ground, I love to know a little
bit more. But you know the forty nine ers of
(25:03):
credible offensive players. But you can only do so much right.
It's about the Jimmy's and the Joe's, and the exes
and the o's. Now, I've been saying for a while
in coaching, I don't care who you are, pat Riley,
Bill Parcells, Andy Reid, you go to different sports. Most
people have a shelf life and need a restart, need
(25:28):
a reset. We're seeing it this year with Mike Vrabel.
Mike Vrabel was told a year ago in Tennessee, you
need to pack your shit and get out of here.
Took a year off, kind of got a fresh look
at everything, got to reset, got to put a little
chip on his shoulder. Comes to New England, is kicking
ass and taking names, and I think Mike Tomlin will
(25:48):
really really benefit from that. But that's between him and
the Steelers, and if they want him have him as
the coach for life, that's their prerogative. One thing I
would say to Mike if I knew him, was like,
you need a little more help in the front office,
Like back when Kevin Colbert was your right hand man.
You guys had a point of difference. You guys had
(26:10):
an advantage when I got into the league in twenty ten,
definitely when I was a kid in college in the
two thousands, and then even once I left the league
in the mid twenty tens, the Steelers were looked at
like a high level scouting operation. The way they evaluated players,
the way they signed players, the way they drafted players.
(26:33):
And I look at their team now, they kind of
just constructed a roster like you or me might do
if we're sixteen years old on Madden, kind of desperate
at Aaron Rodgers trade for Jalen Ramsey, trade for DK Metcalf.
That doesn't seem like what a well run operation would do, though,
(26:53):
if they were trying to win games on Sunday in
the actual National Football League. And I don't think it's
by coincidence that they're getting their ass kicked by all
the good teams, the Packers, the Chargers, the Bears, the Bills.
I mean, think about that, all the games that they
have lost over the course of the last month plus
(27:13):
are two teams that the Packers, the Chargers, the Bears,
and the Bills that are going to be in the playoffs.
And they're getting worked for the most part in these
performances because they don't have the talent, they don't have
the rosters. The Buffalo Bills today are missing their two tackles.
(27:34):
So if you tell me, I'm the Pittsburgh Steelers and
I get to play a team, whether it's a team
that last year was in the ANFC Championship Game or
a team that's going to be drafting in the top
ten and they don't have their two starting tackles in
a league that struggles to find decent offensive linemen, let
(27:54):
alone backups who can fill the spot for starters. I
would have been like, you should be able to make
this game weird. And I saw TJ. Watt talking about
the game after in his postgame press conference, was basically like,
I can just talk about the defense, but we're terrible
we're just not very good. I'd be like, yeah, because
(28:16):
in a game when you're playing backup tackles, you should dominate.
If you put Miles Garrett first a backup tackle, you
could convince me he'd have nine sacks. And I just
watched the Steelers and I watched the Bills. I go,
Bills just have more talent. I'm not even talking about
Josh Allen. Then you factor in that your quarterback who's
(28:39):
about to be forty two years old, has a cast
on his hand. On the one play where he got
sacked by Joey Bosa, had his face slammed into the ground.
I mean after the game, he looked like he just thought.
I was gonna say Floyd, But Floyd doesn't really hit you.
He just kind of dances around, more like Mike Tyson
or something that got blasted in the nose. And I actually,
(29:01):
and I said this to Coward. I respect Aaron because
when you've made that much money and you've checked every
box you need to check for your quote unquote legacy
and your resume as a football player, you don't need this.
Right in twenty years, no one's going to talk about
(29:22):
the last year you played in the NFL for the
Pittsburgh Steelers of the year they went eight nine or
nine and eight. It will be an afterthought on the
way people discuss your career, right, and him playing in
that game with a cast on his hand, and I
get it's his non throwing hand. I got to tip
my hat to him. But you could argue even just
(29:44):
getting into business with him now, they didn't have many
other options, Like what do you think of forty one
to forty two year old is going to be in
the NFL? This is typically how it goes. It is
typically ugly. You know, Brady going to forty four forty five,
that's abnormal. We're not gonna see that anymore. The norm
(30:05):
is Matt Ryan is, Philip Rivers is Big Ben is,
Drew Brees is Eli Manning is the crew of Peers
that Aaron Rodgers had that when they got thirty seven,
thirty eight, thirty nine, Peyton Manning his last year in Denver,
they fall off a cliff. They're not nearly as good now.
(30:26):
Depending on how your team is built. Peyton Manning plays
on a team with an elite defense and Julius Thomas
to Marius Thomas, a good offensive line like other good player,
Emmanuel Sanders. I think they had a lot of talent
on the team. That's not the case here. This team
is poorly built. And I started texting around to just
(30:48):
my buddies out there in the trenches of football scouting,
and I got a couple of people to hit me back,
beg John that their scouting staf's kind of embarrassment and
it shows. And I get the Rooney's take a lot
of pride in continuity, consistency, and patience, I guess is
(31:08):
a word, but it's easy to be patient when in
the nineties or the two thousands, when you're going to
a lot of conference championship games, when you have Super
Bowl bursts, when you look over and you go, we're
six and six, we're technically not even in first place.
And honestly, the only reason we have a prayer this
year is because Lamar Jackson got banged up and they
(31:31):
had some other injuries early in the season. I would
say a typical year, at minimum they're two games behind
the Ravens, and that would be the Ravens having a
weird season at eight and four. So I think if
you're the Steelers' ownership, you got to look in the
mirror and ask yourself what's going on? And did Mike
(31:53):
Tomlin get dumb overnight? No, but clearly the talent on
our roster is has dramatically fallen off since early in
his ten year And even we go back to like
when they were winning playoff games in the twenty tens,
they had a lot of impact guys at a lot
of different positions, and they just the other guys that
(32:14):
weren't Pro bowlers just felt like guys that would start
on every team, and they were just well built. They
just wore a balanced team. And I watched this team
and I've been saying this now for weeks. They're just
not well built. And you Steeler fans that are closer
to the sun on this no more than me. But
(32:35):
it does feel the influence Tomlin has if he's picking
the players or has a lot of influence on the draft.
Maybe I'm out of touch on this, it does feel
like the front office has really screwed them and put
them in a position to have no chance against the
good teams in the NFL because, simply put, they're just
not a good team. Okay, a couple other things before
(32:59):
we get out of here, I do think one thing
college football has going for him is unlike the NFL
because of the way their system is built with the conferences.
It's kind of like Pro football now, especially with the
NIL meets the Real Housewives, you know, because the NFL
(33:20):
doesn't have the capability to steal coaches. So that element
is something that just brings a drama and a reality
television element, especially in the South, that we just don't
get in the NFL. And the Lane Kiffin saga in
a weird way, is fantastic for college football. Why because
(33:44):
everyone has an opinion. It's one of those that you
could ask someone that doesn't even watch that much college
football and they would have a take, Oh, he's fucking
over his guys. It's like you would never turn down
that much. Tell USU, what are you talking about. Every
single person's gonna have an opinion. And I do believe
I'm not someone that's scared to take a stance. This
(34:06):
was always gonna be messy. And I've heard a couple
of people say, and I do agree with this, And
I watched the documentary that he did on A sixty.
I think it was pretty clear that this year was
a lot about changing his image, or at least letting
the world know that he has changed his image. Right,
Let everyone know I'm sober. The hot yoga thing became
(34:28):
really really big. My health, my wellness, my family now
has all moved back around me. I'm around my kids,
I'm around my ex wife. I text someone at night?
Does that mean him and his ex and I text
someone that knows him pretty well? It's like, do they
like live together? Do they sleep in the same bed?
Or is it like his ex wife just moved into
(34:49):
town because their son is there now? And I couldn't
quite get a real answer. But that's not the point
of this whole thing. And maybe they're back in love,
maybe they're not. But hey, I'm a family man. It's
almost like a politician. You're a stronger politician if you're married,
if you can take Christmas card photos with your three children,
(35:12):
then if you're just standing there with a couple of
your boys and a couple of twelve bacs, I mean,
you just look much more hirable when you check all
the boxes that society has told you to check. And
let's face it, for a long time and even Lane
admitted this, he wasn't checking any of them And here's
the other thing. He has been trying to get all
these jobs four years. I know for and I don't
(35:35):
blame him. I know for a fact he really wanted
the Oregon job several years ago when Mario went to
Miami and they wouldn't even talk to him. Think how
crazy that sounds now. Now clearly they made a great
hire with Dan Lanning, but at the time they would
not even interview Lane Kiffen and he obviously was on
(35:56):
the fence a couple of years about Auburn ended up
staying at Old Miss. Think about that, because I talk
about this a lot that if the Alabama thing, and
I've probably tweeted this, like, he'll just go back to Alabama.
Alabama was open last year and guess who controls all
of this Jimmy Sexton. Well, who's his number one client
and kind of has to do whatever he tells him
(36:18):
to do when it comes to some of this stuff.
Nick Saban and Alabama definitely wants Nick retired, was not
going to hire someone that Nick did not want them
to hire. So you're telling me that last year when
Alabama came available, Lane Kiffin wouldn't have been interested in
the job. Well, guess what, Alabama wouldn't have hired him.
And I think Lane Kiffin knew it. And I don't
(36:38):
think the sixty thing was random, and listen, pr propaganda.
We live in a world of at all. Clearly, I
don't know Lane. I haven't talked to him in a
long long time, but my Fresno ties it's where Lane
went to college. I know a lot of people that
know him well. My good buddy Tim Skipper played on
the college football team with him. John Baxter, who's the
(36:59):
special teams coach at Fresno State, was a special teams
coach at USC. Like, listen, I think what everyone says,
Lane's a different cat. I do think the drinking and
the partying was a big kind of X factor to
his life, and I think he wanted to show everyone
that is behind him. And you just look at him
like he just looks sober with his skinny face, and
(37:22):
clearly health is a big, you know, part of his
life now. I also think though he's like treated like
he's Nick Saban, it's like guys. I mean, last year,
a lot of people thought beside Ohio State had the
best roster in the country and didn't even make the playoffs.
(37:42):
Now this year, he's done a really good job. What's
his best win? Oklahoma? Again, I'm not trying to diminish
any of his accomplishments. My point is that he's talked
about like he's Nick Saban or Urban Meyer, and I
think it's more of a product of this hype machine
we work in now part of it. He's a huge
personality and that always and will always work in college football,
(38:05):
and it's fun. I enjoy it. I like following this
whole thing. I'm entertained by it. I understand if you're
an old mis fan, you hate him, you're going to
believe in that one. You know, the guy that said
you can't turn a hoe into a housewife. The I
don't know if he's a local reporter, local podcaster that
(38:29):
clearly pissed Lane off. Like that analogy kind of works
your lane, like based on your career, you're kind of
a nomad bouncing around, whether you're getting fired like at
USC or like when Nick Saban fired you, or like
now you have a playoff team and you're choosing to
go to LSU, which may age as being the right decision,
(38:50):
may age to not because the one thing in the SEC.
Whether you're a huge personality, or whether you're an asshole,
or whether you're a big talker, or whether you're an
introverted don't say much. If you win, no one cares.
But if you don't, and I mean especially at LSU,
(39:12):
at Florida, at Bama, look at Kaitlin Dubor. He was
probably a couple minutes away from Auburn scoring and if
they went for two, losing that game to basically being
forced to having to go to Penn State just because
nine to three would not have been accepted. Missing the
(39:33):
playoffs would not have been allowed because their expectations there
are so high. And I think the lane is going
to have the Hooplah, the hype machine. It's going to
be a lot of fun. And I'm excited to watch
him at LSU. I love the drama of this. I'm
very entertained by this as an outsider, as someone who
doesn't have a specific team. I gravitated for years to
(39:57):
Nick Saban just because I enjoyed watching Alabama play. But
I just enjoy the drama of the SEC and I
can't wait to watch this and when LSU goes back
to Old Miss next year. The animosity the anger. It's
gonna be a lot of fun, but you better win,
(40:18):
you better win big. And I think you get all
this money, you get all this hype, eventually you start
playing games, and you know what he did at Old Miss.
There's just there's a bigger magnifying glass at LSU, and
it's gonna be fascinating to watch. Now. I do think
some of these guys, there's no disputing Lane's offensive mind.
(40:41):
He's clearly pretty brilliant, you know, going back to USC days,
to Alabama when he was with Saban, to what he's
done at FAU and clearly at at ole Miss. But
I just think this thing is gonna be it's gonna
be crazy, and it's gonna be intense. And the hate
the other thing in sports, like sometimes you need villains
(41:04):
like you can't just have it's the problem. Like I
love the PGA Tour. Every guy's just too nice now
all their villains play on the Live Tour, Like you
need some Draymond Greens and Dennis Rodmans. You can't have
everyone being buddy buddy. I need people like I say
this all the time. It speaks to like Ohio State
(41:24):
and the Lakers that I root against you. That's a
powerful thing. People root against the Yankees, people root against
Duke Basketball. No one roots against the Arizona Cardinals. No
one roots against the Jacksonville Jaguars. No No one roots
against the Atlanta Hawks. But like some people hated Nick Saban,
(41:48):
people hated Coach k people hate Rick Pottino or John Calipari.
People just want to root against the people hated Brian Kelly.
Since Lincoln Riley has gone to USC, I find myself
kind of rooting against him. I don't even know why.
You just need people to root against. That's the power
of sports. You can't the programs or the teams that
(42:12):
are just fans don't care about. That's a problem. So
LSU now is gonna a lot of people in the
SEC are gonna root against them. That's good. That's because
of Lane and he's become the number one villain in
college football. He's an extremely polarizing individual. And buckle up
(42:33):
because I can't wait to watch it. Daniel Craig returns
as Ben wa Blank in the Wake Up dead Man,
A knives out Mystery with an all star assembled cast
for his most dangerous case yet. When the young priest
jud duplensity is set to assist a charismatic fire brand
(42:56):
man Signor Jefferson Wicks. It's clear that all is not
well in the Pews. Written and directed by Ryan Johnson,
critics are calling it the sharpest knives out movie yet.
Wake Up Dead Man, a knives Out mystery in select
theaters November twenty sixth and on Netflix December twelfth, rated
PG thirteen. I saw a story today from Jeff Darlington
(43:24):
about Dave Caldwell, the former Jags GM who was actually
working for the Philadelphia Eagles, I think for the last
six or seven years, and he's leaving the Eagles to
become the GM for Florida. And I do believe, and
I've been saying this for a while whenever this topic
comes up, that a lot of guys in the NFL
(43:45):
that are like the third or fourth guy. Like if
you're the college scouting director or you're like the head
SEC scout. If you get the opportunity to be the
GM of the LSU for Lane, or be the GM
for Florida, or be the GM for Clemson, or be
the GM for Ohio State, these jobs are pretty elite
because a lot of them pay, you know, to Jim Naggy,
(44:10):
who is a longtime NFL scout, ran the Senior Bowl
once Phil Savage left, and now he is the general
manager at Oklahoma. I'm pretty sure he makes eight hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. So unlike when you're a road
scout and you have to travel over the place, you
basically are just in house and because of the current rules,
(44:32):
you can't go on the road and recruit. So from
a travel perspective, beside going to the team's away games,
it's a pretty good gig. Now it's hard, long days,
long hours. But if you're already having that gig in
the NFL at a either on the road for a
team or like an in house pro scouting director, you're
working crazy hours anyway and not making nearly as much money.
(44:57):
I was texting someone today, I've never signed a one
hundred million dollar contract, but I can't imagine some of
these guys that are making a one hundred million dollars
in the SEC that live in these towns. How many
homes in Baton Rouge or Oxford, Mississippi are worth like
over three million dollars. You know, this was the thing
when Lincoln went to USC he had just built like
(45:20):
a new mansion, and they're like, who's he gonna sell
it to. There's no one in Norman, Oklahoma that is
gonna buy this off them, So USC had to spend
the money to essentially just buy his property. And I
do think these guys are just living. Like Lane Kiffin's
gonna make twelve or thirteen million dollars to be the
(45:41):
head coach in Baton Rouge. He's been making eight, nine,
ten million dollars for the last four or five years
in Oxford, Mississippi. Like the amount of money he is
making right now, I bet he is making the equivalent
of some NFL players making like twenty or twenty five
million that are living in a place like Los Angeles,
San Francisco or New York when you factor in the taxes,
(46:03):
when you factor in the cost of living, like he
is swimming in money. And I think a lot of
these college football programs are the assistants the gms, Like
this is a really good time. When I worked in
college football, none of these jobs existed. Definitely, none of
this money was near at this level. So I get
(46:24):
asked a lot of times, like how do you get involved?
If I want to get into scouting. There is a
direct route now in college football, and you don't have
to start out as like the GM, but just like
get your foot in the door. All these programs are
building and creating scouting departments that did not exist a
decade ago. Saban kind of started it, maybe in the
(46:48):
twenty ten eleven twelve range, and by the end of
last decade kind of everyone's copied now because of the
growth and the wealth of the sport. There's a lot
of money behind it. And it's not like, well, you
can work for the program, but we can give you
a two hundred dollars a week stipend. It's like, now
we got three positions, they all pay seventy five thousand dollars,
(47:09):
and then you can be the number two make four
hundred thousand dollars, and then you can be the GM
and make nine hundred grand. So it's it's a crazy business.
The Lang Kiffin story was nuts, and we just got
to buckle up and enjoy it. Have a great night.
Hopefully you guys had a good week, and talk to everyone.
We see everyone on Monday morning. Oh yeah, really quick
before before we get out of here. Thanks my man.
(47:32):
Shane for reminding me hard rock bet. All our lines
are brought to you by them. They've been great partners,
and I do like a lot of underdogs in this
situation when they're playing in prime time, because for the
New York Giants won since my Kafka has taken over,
they have that they could have gone to and all right,
they could have beat the Packers, and they could have
(47:53):
beat the Lions. They've played well. I also think Jackson
Dart's coming back should give him a little life. They're
bound to win one of these games. I mean no
team has blown more late leads. Obviously, they just fired
their defensive coordinator. I just think seven points a lot.
We have seen multiple seven point plus underdogs, whether it's
(48:13):
the Bears, whether it's the Bengals, cover, go on the
road and cover actually outright win. So I'm gonna take
the I'm gonna take the Giants getting a touchdown and yeah,
so that's the way I will roll. Have a great night.
(48:36):
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